‘People are afraid it will happen again’: Hundreds protest lack of flooding action in Midleton

Close to 500 people attended a protest on Saturday organised by a flood protection group in Midleton, Co Cork, to highlight what they describe as “the lack of any meaningful protections” given to the community since Storm Babet devastated the area in 2023.

Extreme rainfall in Midleton and other parts of east Cork in October 2023 led to flooding of houses and businesses.

The force of the deluge caused the front window of a hairdressing salon in the town to shatter, while flooding was 1.5m deep in some places.

The flooding event caused up to €200 million in damage to businesses and homes in the town.

Members of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group said they are still years away from full protection against flooding in the region.

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Mona Stromsoe, spokeswoman for the group, told Cork’s 96FM that they feel just as vulnerable to flooding as they were in 2023.

“We were expecting the flooding defence scheme for Midleton to go to planning at the end of September.

“As recently as July we were told it was on track to go to planning at the end of September.

“That didn’t happen and we were told by the Minister [Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran] that it wouldn’t happen until the end of Q4.

Stromsoe said people previously impacted by flooding in east Cork remain fearful of a repeat episode.

“They think, ‘Is today the day?’ We saw in Killarney during the summer that it was just one day of rain and they were flooded.

“People are afraid it will happen again and it will be as bad as Babet.”

The protest took place on Saturday in Midleton and involved groups of people from the town and nearby areas such as Mogeely, Killeagh and Castlemartyr.

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Earlier this month Minister of State Kevin “Boxer” Moran announced €1.1 million in funding for interim and flood mitigation measures in Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Ratchcormac and Ballintubber.

The Minister said the announcement was part of an overall €14 million allocation to Midleton and east Cork to address and mitigate the flood risk in the region.

He said a further €5.8 million investment is enabling advance works in Tir Cluain, Midleton, to proceed to construction from spring next year. These works will protect 135 properties.

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Moran said Cork County Council is due to receive the final planning engineering and environmental assessment documents for the overall flood defence scheme from its consultants this month.

He said this will allow the council to make a planning application for the Midleton Flood Relief Scheme to An Coimisiún Pleanála by the end of the year, which would protect 750 properties and all of those impacted by Storm Babet.